by Allison Pearson, Telegraph
Exclusive: Mother jailed for tweet sent after the Southport murders speaks to The Telegraph from prison following the failure of her appeal
“When is Mummy’s letter coming?” “Is Mummy’s letter here yet, Daddy?” Over the past week, hope and excitement have been building in the Connolly household. Mummy was coming home! Ray Connolly has done his best to manage his 12-year-old daughter’s expectations, keeping the likely date of the Court of Appeal’s decision as vague as possible, but Holly wouldn’t stop asking. It was disappointing last Thursday when, after several hours of evidence, Lord Justice Holroyde said there would be no decision that day, instead a written ruling would be issued as soon as possible. Just after 10.30am today, on the 284th day of Lucy’s incarceration, “Mummy’s letter”, that much longed-for email, arrived. It was a hammer blow. Devastating. Lucy Connolly had lost her appeal for early release. The three judges had decided that a 31-month sentence for one very nasty, hastily-deleted tweet posted on the day of the Southport massacre by a woman of previously exemplary character was perfectly just and reasonable.
Normal people, that is the millions of us who don’t inhabit the rarefied legal bubble of the Royal Courts of Justice, were shocked and horrified. What on earth was that poor woman even doing in jail in the first place? Seldom can common sense (and its tender sister, common humanity) and legal opinion have been so estranged. The law was no longer just an ass, it was a whole stable of braying donkeys in horsehair wigs.
Read also: The appalling treatment of Lucy Connolly by Kathy Gyngell, TCW